Montez Sweat: A Powerful EDGE Prospect In The NFL Draft

Montez Sweat has some nice traits and is a physically imposing EDGE prospect in the 2019 NFL Draft.

Montez Sweat is one of the more highly touted players in the upcoming 2019 NFL Draft, and some believe that he could be drafted as early as the first round. He isn’t the on the same level as some of the other prospects in this class in terms of his pass rushing capabilities, but he has some nice traits that should earn him early playing time in the NFL.

Montez Sweat doesn’t have a great first step off the line of scrimmage. It isn’t bad. It’s decent, but also very inconsistent at times. He doesn’t always have the best reaction time to the snap, and his actual explosiveness in that first step ranges from below average to good.

He doesn’t have the elite bend and flexibility that some of the other top prospects in this class have. This is a serious concern for his ability to rush the passer at the next level. At the very least, it probably limits his ceiling as a sack producer.

His pass rush moves are OK, but not great. He shows some flashes of ability in this area here and there, but this isn’t where he excels. He doesn’t have an inside counter that he can use reliably to fool offensive linemen, and he doesn’t seem to have a plan of attack in his pass rush.

Montez Sweat does a really nice job of using his physical strength to overpower offensive tackles and bulrush blockers. This helps to lessen some of his deficiencies in his traditional pass rush skills.

Sweat uses his physicality well at the point of attack and rarely gives up ground. He has the strength to throw blockers around, and the toughness to stick his nose into a pile and blow up a run play. Sweat has a large tackle radius and he makes the most of it.

Montez Sweat, like Boston College prospect Zach Allen, is an excellent tackler and consistently wraps up and drives through the ballcarrier. His effort level is consistently good, and he plays with ferocity. Sweat welcomes contact and will also invite it. He isn’t afraid to get dirty, take on blocks, and make tough tackles.

IDP Fantasy Implications

While Montez Sweat is probably limited in terms of his sack potential. He should have a solid production floor due to his abilities against the run, a useful skill for IDP fantasy football.

Obviously, as an IDP Fantasy asset, you’d like to draft a player that has both. However,Sweat could develop into a nice run stopping defensive end that can occasionally add some sack production. That’s generally not the type of player that you want to be starting on a consistent basis, but it can be a nice depth piece that you can count on to contribute on bye weeks or through injuries.

If Montez Sweat can learn to develop his pass rush moves a little bit, his sack production can improve. Unfortunately, lack of bend, flexibility, and explosiveness are things that generally won’t develop at the NFL level, so his ceiling in this area is limited.

The good news is that, unlike Josh Allen and Jachai Polite, Montez Sweat is probably not a candidate to end up as a 3-4 outside linebacker at the next level. He really only fits as a 4-3 defensive end. This means that there is very little possibility that Sweat ends up with the dreaded linebacker tag as an EDGE player.

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Thanks for checking out the article everyone. I’ll have articles coming to all offseason to prepare you for the incoming crop of IDP players in the 2019 NFL Draft. Follow me on twitter @Lanny1925 and check out the podcast with Jon, Nate, and I.